Chapter 6

Cheyenne Mountain

Pete Mitchell found himself back in the mountain and this time much earlier and with his friends, Iceman and Goose. The two men stood in white dress uniform beside Pete who also wore his white dress as they rode the elevator down.

Goose asked, "How far down doses this elevator go?"

"Twenty eight floors." Pete told him.

Iceman assessed, "It's like a top secret base inside a top secret base."

Pete nodded. He recalled his first trip down the elevator in 2023 with the young pilots. He then ironically figured those young pilots were children currently.

The door slid open as they reached the floor. Before them was a hallway filled with military men and women all in battle dress. Pete led the men off the lift soon came across a familiar face in the hallway waiting for them. It was Colonel Jack O'Neill sporting green battle dress.

As best to Pete's recollection, Jack had not met him yet nor had he met his cousin, Cameron Mitchell. He fully expected to introduce himself. "Sir." He gave Jack a salute.

"I see you made it early this time, Maverick." he smirked at him.

"Wait. You know me?" he asked a bit bewildered.

"The little black rock." he nodded. "I have the gene and it activated. I tried to get it to Carter when Natasha came across me in the hallway. I couldn't make a coherent sentence and I guess she thought it was supposed to go in your room. Last I remember I got to the infirmary and passed out. Not sure why it didn't seem to affect her. She was wearing gloves. Maybe it stopped it from affecting her."

"So, this happened to you to?" Pete assessed. "You went back mentally too?"

"To when I was five years old. How far did you go back, Maverick?" he wondered.

"To 1986." he informed. "Five! You went back to when you were five?"

He nodded, "Kind of cool. I got to be a kid again and see all my old friends again. I don't know how to undo this. I figure Carter would know but I don't think she got exposed and I'm not sure she will believe me."

Goose asked, "Um, sir! Are you saying that little rock is real and it did the same thing to you as what it did to Pete?"

He nodded, "Sent me back to when I was a kid. I've been living my life over again. I know Carter would say to stay out of history's way and not change things but…you know…" he motioned.

Pete asked, "What did you change, General?"

"I'm still a colonel." he reminded him. "I saved my son's life. I prevented the mistake I made that would have killed him. Sarah is not very happy about me getting myself in this project. She thinks I'm nuts when I tell her I got a do over from an alien artifact."

Goose stood beside himself. "Is this some kind of joke you two are pulling on us?"

"No," Jack shook his head. "I did all this already. I was retried. I came out of retirement in 2023 to take command of the Homer to go on a search and rescue mission. We recruited Maverick to be on the ship and part of that rescue mission. Of course, we wanted you in here long before that." He mentioned to Pete. Then he puckered and asked, "What did you change, Maverick?"

"Goose and Iceman are with me and in the program on the ground floor." he informed.

"Oh, we have not started it yet. This is the first dial out to Abydos." he recalled.

Pete asked, "What do I need to know, sir?"

"Ra." he recalled. "First baddie we took out."

Pete assured, "You just tell us what we need to do and we will do it."

"First Daniel needs to help Katherine get the Gate working." he informed. "I requested Carter come in so she will help him too."

"We're all good friends with Sam." Pete told him. "I told her what happened. I think she believes me. I bet she will believe you too, sir."

"Ya think?" he asked surprised.

"I think she will." he assured.

Jack puckered, "Should I tell her eventually marries me?"

Iceman gasped, "What? Sam marries you? I like Sam."

Jack smirked, "You will have to fight me for her, Admiral."

"Admiral?" he asked a bit bewildered.

Goose stated, "You make Admiral, Tom." He understood that Pete's claims were true.

Jack shrugged, "Anything is possible I suppose." He glanced at his watch, "I pulled another favor." He looked at the elevator door. Soon, the lift door opened once more to reveal another passenger, General George Hammond wearing his blue dress. He stepped off the lift and his eyes landed on Jack's face.

"Colonel!" George greeted and acted as if he never saw the man before.

"1969, George. Who came through?" he asked.

He paused a bit taken by the question, "You came through along with Captain Carter, Dr. Jackson and a large black man you called T."

"Least we didn't change that." he smirked.

Pete asked, "What?"

"The first time around, me and my team hit a solar flare that caused the wormhole to put us back to 1969. George helped us get back. Of course that has not happened yet and I got George in a year early." he informed.

Pete asked, "Should we be changing this like this, sir?"

Jack replied wide-eyed, "Just don't tell Carter we will be fine. She doesn't need to know."

"Why?" he asked.

"Because she will kill me if she found out." he rebutted. "And then we will get this never ending speech about preserving the timeline which I sure we screwed up at least dozen times anyways."

"Just don't tell Sam?" he winced.

"Something are better left unsaid." Jack agreed.

Weeks Later

Pete Mitchell found himself on the very first dial out to Abydos. He soon discovered that Jack was not kidding when he said the first trip through was worse. In 2023 they have refined the program and it went much smother. Pete felt like he had been kicked in the gut, thrown into a washing machine and spat out the other end. He found frost on his skin as his eyes adjusted to the bright suns of the strange planet. He looked over to Goose and Iceman. "You two okay?" he asked the pair.

Goose replied, "Jesus Maverick! That was more intense than any flight I have ever been on."

Iceman agreed trying to shake it off. "That's beyond a rush."

Jack seemed to have shaken the affects off before anyone else. He soothed, "Don't worry boys. Carter makes it better." He then looked over to Captain Samantha Carter who was unknowingly changing history by being in the program a full year early.

She gave a nod, "I'm sure I can smooth that out, Sir." She too shook from the affects.

Jack looked about knowing Skaara and his sister would soon come to see who had come through the Gate. He gave a deep sigh, "Just wish T was here and I would have my old team back."

Soon, the children of Abydos stepped forward to see who had come. Jack nodded as his eyes landed on Skaara, who was leading the boys. He looked to Daniel knowing it would take time to teach the boys English and only Daniel could communicate with the children. Much to his surprise Skaara stopped before them, smiled brightly and then spoke English.

"We have been waiting for you." Skaara announced.

Daniel gasped, "You speak English!" He looked to Jack and Sam. "I wasn't expecting them to speak English. Maybe some dialect of Ancient Egyptian."

"Our leader taught us. Our Great Leader who liberated us and told us you would come and said many great things about you and…" he memorized the name "S.G. One."

Jack stated, "Take me to your leader."

Daniel looked to Jack and asked, "Any ideas who this great leader could be, Colonel?"

H replied, "First you call me 'Jack.' Next, I don't know who it could be. That stone could have landed any place after Maverick got hit with it."

Daniel wondered, "Why are you and I on first name bases when all the other special forces guys call me by my last name?"

Pete spoke up, "Me, Goose and Iceman all call you by your first name, Daniel."

"I've known you guys for years." he reminded them.

Jack smirked, "Same." He walked by the linguist, "Come on, Daniel."

In short time, the soldiers were led to a chamber that was filled with Jaffa. Jack scanned the faces of the Jaffa Warriors who were having some kind of meeting. He recognized two faces: Teal'c and Bra'tac. Then the leader of the Jaffa stepped forward.

"I am Ro'Nac of the Free Jaffa." he declared. "We have been expecting you."

Jack looked at Teal'c as the Jaffa's father was not only alive but leading the Free Jaffa. "T?" he asked.

Teal'c stepped forward as a slight smile crept across his face. "GeneralO'Neill." he greeted his friend. "DanielJackson, GeneralCarter," his eyes landed on Pete. "Maverick."

Pete snapped his fingers, "You got hit with the stone too."

"Indeed," he confessed. "When Natasha was told to retrieve the stone from your quarters that she placed there in error, I accompanied her unsure what condition you would be found in. We found you slumped over your desk with the stone in your hand. I attempted to retrieve it assuming it was no longer active as it did not affect Natasha. I was wrong."

Jack asked, "How far back did it send you, T?"

"I suddenly became a child and was living my life again." he informed. "I took the knowledge I had and leveraged it against the Goa'uld. I knew your first dial out would be to Abydos. We targeted Ra and freed Abydos last year. I have spend the last year teaching your language to the people of Abydos and to the Free Jaffa." he explained.

Jack asked, "Did anyone get hit with that stone after you?"

"I do not know." he confessed. "My suggestion is we use this opportunity to advert JanetFrasier's death. I theorize that is she could be with us in 2023 on Earth then perhaps she can find a way to wake us."

Jack asked, "I'm not waking up?"

"No one exposed to the stone has woken up." he reported.

"Bummer." he sighed.